Erasing Your Tracks

Internet browsers are designed to leave traces behind that indicate where you have been and what you have been looking at on the internet. You cannot 100 percent guarantee that your activity cannot be traced on the internet, however, there are some things can you can do to reduce the chances.

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Many browsers have the option of PRIVATE BROWSING, on Google Chrome this is called "Incognito Mode". If you use this option, your current browsing session will not be saved and nor will files be cached or cookies saved. You need to choose this option every time you begin a browsing session by selecting File | New Incognito Window or similar.

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To erase history, you need to erase two things: YOUR CACHE and YOUR HISTORY LIST.

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To erase browser history follow the following instructions:

If using Internet Explorer or Firefox please click on this link and follow the instructions:

Next you can choose how much data you would like to erase by using the drop-down menu. You can choose to delete all your history by choosing “THE BEGINNING OF TIME”. Or you can choose to delete your internet history for the day by choosing “THE PAST DAY” on the drop-down menu. If you share the computer with others they will be able to see that you have deleted your history, if you are worried about this, the best option may be to choose “THE PAST HOUR” on the drop-down menu. It will only delete your searching history for the past hour.

Make sure that the following boxes are checked: “BROWSING HISTORY”, “CACHED IMAGES AND FILES” AND “DOWNLOAD HISTORY”.

Then click “CLEAR BROWSING DATA” at the bottom of the box.

Then close your browser.

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If using Safari:

Choose HISTORY.

Then choose CLEAR HISTORY.

Then click CLEAR.

One additional but important tip!

When you clear the cache and the history list, you erase not only the information on where you’ve been but any other information that had been previously stored there. So, if your partner or someone else checks and sees that the cache and the history list have been completely emptied, they will know that you know how to do this. They may also guess that you’re trying to hide something.